1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved harmonica and more specifically to a harmonica having means operatively associated with the reeds of the harmonica that converts the mechanical vibration of harmonica reeds into electrical energy.
2. Background Information
Harmonicas are among the world's oldest musical instruments. Harmonicas produce musical tones by a player blowing or drawing air into the harmonica to vibrate one or more of the reeds of the harmonica.
The means of projecting sound to an audience by harmonica is typically performed by direct acoustic means. That is, the air pressure produced by the player blowing or drawing air through the harmonica is transmitted to the audience as an acoustical wave of sound. If amplification means are desired to reinforce this sound, a microphone is typically used in conjunction with the harmonica. The microphone is placed either adjacent to the musician, or cupped in the musician's hands in close proximity with the harmonica. The sound generated by any individual reed of the harmonica is mixed with sound produced by all other active reeds. This therefore limits the isolation of individual sounds, or notes, produced from the discrete reeds.
A problem with conventional means of amplification is the tendency of spurious sounds to enter the microphone, such as the air flow caused by the player's breath, or amplified sound emanating from a nearby speaker, for example, that can produce undesirable feedback noise. In the context of stringed instruments, there have been suggested electronic means for obviating these problems by more directly converting the mechanical movement of the string to an electrical voltage. The voltage, in turn, is transmitted to an amplifier or recording device to produce audible sound. However, no such means have been taught or suggested for similar application to a harmonica.
There have been suggested electronic harmonicas that control electronic sound synthesizing devices. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No.4,984,499. This patent teaches replacement of the reeds in a conventional harmonica with airflow sensors comprised of electrical strain gages on an elastic member. Flexing of the elastic member by the flow and direction of air drawn or blown into the harmonica is stated to cause a detectable change of resistance. This change of resistance is fed into a synthesizer that reproduces a musical note. It will be appreciated that this "harmonica" differs from a traditional harmonica that includes vibrating reeds and therefore does not provide the dynamic expression that is associated with the diatonic harmonica. See also, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,619,175.
What is needed, however, are an apparatus and associated method including a harmonica having conventional reeds that can convert mechanical reed vibrations into electrical signals that can be amplified, mixed and otherwise manipulated. What is also needed is an improved harmonica that is inexpensive to manufacture. In addition, a retrofitting method is needed that can provide a traditional diatonic harmonica with the benefits of electrical conversion of mechanical reed vibrations into electrical signals representative of the mechanical vibrations.